DIY Brain Stimulation

Proponents of this technology say it can improve mental function, making it easier to learn things like math.

My chum Jay Dowling just sent me a link to a Wired article that's interesting and scary at the same time.

It seems that a number of researchers have been investigating something called transcranial direct current stimulation. From what I can make out, this involves passing a low-level electric current through the frontal lobes of one's brain.

Proponents of this technology say it can improve mental function, thereby making it easier to learn things like math. There are also claims that this technology can make you happier and allow you to stop taking antidepressants, that it can get attention deficit disorder under control, and that it can increase your performance while playing computer games.

Though I haven't actually read this anywhere, I get the distinct impression that it can whiten your teeth, help you grow a full head of hair, and make you a master at ballroom dancing.

Now, I can understand people being enthusiastic about the promise of something that will make them clever and happier without them having to exert themselves in any way. However, as the Wired article says: "Self-experimenters aren't consulting their doctors or waiting for scientific consensus. They're zapping first and asking questions as they go."

All I can say is that a brain is a terrible thing to waste. My brain is certainly high on the list of my favorite organs. You can expect a lot of kicking and screaming before I let anyone start squirting current through any portion of the temple that is my body, including -- but not limited to -- my frontal lobes.

What do you think about this? Do you squirm in your seat in horror at the thought, or are you one who -- like Tim Allen -- would shout, "More power!"

From the ChranioSacral Therapy it did not help, as the problem was mechanical, the CSF Leak.

In the end Karen committed suicide on August 7th 2013, as she could no longer stand the excruciating headache caused by a Intracranial Hypotension, more commonly known as a Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) Leaks. A condition that is more common that many think, yet is so unknown that some doctors argue the condition does not even exist. It has been estimated that ten percent of the 30,000,000 suffering from migraine headaches are actual suffering from this condition, that is 3,000,000 per day!

If anyone reading this is involved in the medical field, please help get Karen's story into more schools, and look at the conceptual design I have for a CSF pump that would help people like Karen. I won third place in one of the medical design magazines contests with it.

Anyone that reads Karen's story, that I've gotten feedback from says they are in tears by the end of it. As am I typing this.

Also anyone that says we "have the best medical system in the world" has *NOT* dealt with chronic conditions like Chronic Pain. I'll be happy to educate anyone of the realities of those sufferers at the hands of the medical establishment and the insurance industry. Contact me via Karen's web site.

@bpaddock: I just read TREAPANN. YIKES! Don't anyone do this! It is *NOT* needed!

I TOTALLY agree with you. When I made that post it was intended to point out the totally bizarre things some people do. I certainly did not intended for anyone to take that a a recommendation for Trepanning.

@bpaddock: ...if you want to have some real fun apply your usual diligence to find how the brain uses 'Chaos' and Chaotic Attractors to do what it does.

I've been seeing this topic pop up here-and-there quite a lot over the past few years. The main thing I get from this is to reaffirm that the brain is an astounding incredible fantastical beautiful wonderful thing (and I'm so glad I have one)

@bpaddock: My wife is undergoing treatment now [when I wrote this long ago] to see if it helps with her pain problem. She said she feels much more relaxed for days after a treatment. So far not much in the way of pain relief for her problem.

Max, if you want to have some real fun apply your usual diligence to find how the brain uses 'Chaos' and Chaotic Attractors to do what it does.

Far to often we see this as 'noise' to be gotten rid of instead of something to learn from and apply.

Look up the user group Mind-L on Yahoo Groups, one of the oldest places on Internet dealing with this stuff, to see just how deep the rabbit hole goes.Most of the Interesting Stuff is in the archives, as today most of it is 'old news' to these people and the list is not that active any more.

I wrote this about Trepanning years ago, before we figured out my wife's problem was a cerebrospinalspinal fluid (CSF) leak.

I just read TREAPANN. YIKES! Don't anyone do this! It is *NOT* needed!

Obviously Dr. Bart did NOT do his home work, such as Dr. William G. Sutherland in 1939, yes 39.

T> Babies are born with skulls unsealed, and it is not until one is T> an adult that the bony carapace is formed which completely encloses the T> membranes.

"Modern Medicine", the one that can't seem to figure out a simple chronic pain problem with my wife says that the Skull bones become one calcified unit some time in our teens.

Sutherland's premise is that the bones are distinct, and must be free to move for proper health. The movement is only on the order of millimeters, but movement none the less.

To prove his premise Sutherland took a foot ball helmet and drilled holes in it (Not his head!!!) applied some bolts and thumb screws ect. This allowed him to adjust the pressure on the cranial bones at various pressures and angles. His wife documented his shifts in behavior, as things were fiddled with.

The medical community largely does not accept Sutherland's work. However a Dr. John E. Upledger, D.O., F.A.A.O independently discovered, in 1974, something related called the Craniosacral System.

The Craniosacral System is the Dural tube that lines the spine and the inside of the brain. You've all heard of Spinal Fluid, but did you ever stop to think what this Fluid was held in, Where it came from, How it was replaced, How it circulated? Upledger answers all of these questions.

According to Upledger a dysfunction any place in the Cranioscral System can cause any type of symptom. Anything from skin rashes to Ceribral Palsy, dyslexia, Hyperactivity, ect. Upledger claims a 50% success rate in the treatment of some of the "Incurable" problems of our time.

The treatment is simple external manipulation of the C.System, Cranial Bones ect.

There are people all over the world certified to do this. In the Dallas area alone there are over 50 people listed as certified in at least Level-I (There are many aspects to Upledger treatments).

While nothing is ever a cure-all, Upledger's work is well documented, and independently verified.

The doctor's book, with lots of nice drawings and X-Rays, that I can even understand, is "Craniosacral Therapy" by John E. Upledger, D.O., F.A.A.O & Joh D. Vredevoogd, M.F.A. ISBN 0-939616-01-7.

There is a second volume that I've not yet seen "Beyond The Dura Mater".

My wife is undergoing treatment now [when I wrote this long ago] to see if it helps with her pain problem. She said she feels much more relaxed for days after a treatment. So far not much in the way of pain relief for her problem.

Another important book is the "The Egoscue Method of Health Through Motion" by Pete Egoscue, ISBN 0-06-092430-6. If you want to stay healthy do what the this books says, if you want to get well do what this book says.

The *STRUCTURE* of the body is far more important than most realize. The so called M.D.'s of our time only look at the biochemical aspects. A bad structure, like bad posture, can have bizarre biochemical ramifications.

All of these are external treatments and/or exercises with no drilling necessary.....